Evolution
by An.Arcane.Hamartia
Summary: How much trouble can one guy who just wants to be left alone get into?  My friends and I's characters in an X-Men: Evo-esque setting, but with no actual powers! Features the appearance of Emma Frost.


Riley shuffled as silently as possible, trying to avoid attention, into his first class of his senior year, general sciences. Unfortunately for him, being a few minutes late canceled out all efforts of going unseen, but he probably would have drawn as much attention as he did in that split second no matter when he walked in.

"You're late, Mr…" the teacher, Cole Carmichael, said with a strict but calm edge. He checked the attendance sheet, seeing who the only absence was, before finishing, "Bond." At this, a few girls giggled as if their maturity was at an age half of their actual one, and some of the guys raised eyebrows.

Giving a look of pure sarcasm with his eyes alone, and not replying, Ri moved to the very back of the class, the only place that there was a seat open besides at the very front, which was the last place he wanted to be. Yet, he still felt the eyes following him. Apparently, the students here were very ready to play with this new God-like toy who'd appeared at their school.

He dropped his black bag with boredom as he made it to the often vandalized, old desk. Next, Ri puts his arms down on the desk, put his face into his arms, and then began trying to have a nap to sleep off his hangover.

To no one's surprise, his efforts were cut short as the blond teacher, who didn't look too much older than any of the students, came over to the pale but dark new student. He was not about to allow napping. So he dropped the biggest textbook he had onto the desk right next to the slacker's head.

Riley's head shot up and he blurted without thinking about it, "What the fuck, man?" This was the class' first taste of his rich, deep voice. It still held a slight British accent, to boot.

"Wake up and pay attention, or get out of here. I won't tolerate laziness, and so if you're going to insist on being so, drop this class," he warned with a sweet smile. Cole was really a good, easy going guy, but he was here to help these kids learn, and would insist on doing his job.

"…I'm just taking this class because I wasn't allowed anymore spares. I don't need the credits, and I don't need the knowledge," Riley countered back evenly. The teacher had helped make his headache worse, and it made him more bitter than usual. "Piss off."

"Riley… oh my gosh, seriously. Why the heck would you do that?" Christian demanded, the only other guy Ri knew at this school, and as a result they were good enough friends. It was a bonus for Riley that Chris was currently letting him live out of his basement. He'd just been told about the confrontation with Mr. Carmichael, who happened to be one of his favourite teachers, seeing as he had AP bio with the man.

"He was being a bastard, I wasn't going to allow for him to harass me in front of everyone," Riley replied as he wiped the grease from his hands with an already blackened rag. He was talking to Chris while cleaning up last minute things from his most recent, and currently favourite class which just happened to be before lunch: auto. "So that's when I called him a bloody nancy-boy."

"You realize that now there's no way I'm allowing him to discover that I'm affiliated with you, right?" Christian said with exasperation as he jumped from the ledge where he was sitting as they grabbed their stuff and headed outside now.

"Oh, you almost frightened me out of my wits right there, Christian. Look out, we wouldn't want me shitting my pants at a new high school. It wouldn't do much for first impressions," Ri drawled on sarcastically as they crossed the field and found a spot to sit at for lunch in the sports stands, which were relatively empty.

As Christian pulled out a paper bag and water bottle, Riley just reached into his pocket for a cigarette and lighter, finally catching a break. Whatever Chris's reply was, though, Riley missed it entirely, because his eyes had caught something, and that something, more like someone, had in return caught his mind.

It didn't take Chris forever to notice that his words were entering one ear and leaving right out the other, and so he stopped talking abruptly, looking first at Riley, and then he followed his friend's eyes to find what had caught his attention. Originally he merely thought it was the group of cheerleaders who'd walked into the field that had stolen the mind of his friend, before realizing that Riley's eyes were way too steady and unmoving. He was concentrated on only one of them. It was a no brainer who that one was as Chris looked back again to the girls.

"No… dude, no. Don't even think about it-" he warned steadily, though he was being dead serious.

"Who is that?" Riley asked.

"Are you even listening to the words coming out of my mouth?"

"I will once you answer my question."

Christian sighed, "That's Alexia DuPris, a junior, and already the captain of the cheerleading squad,-"

"-ew-"

"-but it's not even worth trying, she's seeing Rex, the quarterback, and a valedictorian candidate. They've been together since grade school. Rex is a great guy, but he sent a kid named Remy to the hospital a few years ago when he wouldn't stop harassing and hitting on Alexia," Christian informed.

"She's looking at me," Riley suddenly said, and the largest grin Christian had ever seen on Ri was now plastered across his lips.

Chris looked at him with incredulity. "…I thought you said you would listen to me!" But Christian then suddenly saw Riley's expressions change, and Ri jumped to his feet.

Looking for the millionth time back down to the field, he started piecing things together after Riley'd already figured it out, yet Ri still had a long moment of hesitation where Chris wouldn't have.

Alexia had, in fact, noticed Riley, but in drawing her attention towards the stands, and just barely caught sight of a kid getting pulled behind them by a group of several, much larger teens. Without wasting a second, she had headed off towards them, and this is when Ri's facial expressions had taken a jump back down. After his moment of hesitation and a sigh, Riley'd stood, and was headed down the stands for the oncoming battle.

As his feet touched actual ground again, he blew a final smoke ring before throwing down his cigarette and snubbed it out with his foot, at which point he now proceeded under the stands where the scene unfolded before him.

The tall but scrawny kid who had to have been a freshman was thrown to the ground as half a dozen guys who were probably taking steroids made a predator-like circle around their victim. Then there was Alexia who was stomping towards them, shouting threats of things she would do if they didn't stop, her voice carrying a ferocity Riley would have imagined impossible. But it was clear that they didn't have any intentions of stopping.

This time, finally without any hesitation, Ri moved into action. He started by grabbing the back of the collar of the asshole who had his back nearest to Riley, and then used that grip to pull him around and smash the guy's head into the lower underside of the stands. That guy went limp, whether he'd actually been knocked out, or just disoriented, Ri didn't know, nor did he care. From there, one of them had turned to get rid of this motherfucker who was trying to stop them from teaching the little punk a lesson, while the other four continued their verbal and physical assault. Luckily, the fact that one of them was now coming towards Ri, helped add force to the knee Riley put up into that guy's groin, knowing from the reacting that he was down and out now too. The last four fell just as quickly and with as little effort as the first two, all the while as Alexia ran in towards the bleeding kid.

"Is he alright?" Riley asked softly while shaking his right hand off, having just used it to deliver a finishing punch to the last guy's face.

"I don't know, come here, help me pick him up, we need to get him inside and laying down," Alexia replied hurriedly, all female, motherly instincts kicking in immediately. She watched at the mysterious saviour complied, though she noticed that he'd made a grimace of distaste.

Now sitting in English, Riley was equally as tuned out as he'd been in science, but the big difference here was that he was no where near falling asleep. He was, in fact, paying great attention to the teacher, and wondering to himself how on Earth she'd been allowed to teach in that outfit. It barely covered what it needed to, but he admitted that the fact that it was entirely white went quite nicely with her (obviously fake) platinum blonde hair and icy eyes. He had yet to realize he didn't even have a clue as to what her name was.

This was his first class after lunch, but his last of the day, seeing as the rest of his schedule was empty with spares. Today would end even earlier than that, he realized, as Ms. Frost's telephone began to ring that annoying endless ring, and upon answering it, her eyes immediately fell upon him, narrowing.

A minute later, he was entering the Principal's office. Inside, it was already crowded: the young Principal, Alexia, the bruised and beaten boy they'd saved from further assault, and the six others who'd had their asses handed to them. They were all being pussies and were holding ice packs all over themselves.

"Well, you all know why you're here," the Principal began with a sigh. "Now I'd like someone to start explaining before I simply expel the young man who just got here, which would be a tragedy considering he's only been here half of a day. Mr. Bond, are there even any schools left who will take you that you have not been expelled from?"

"Uh, sir," the young boy said timidly before Riley had time to speak, and could only narrow his eyes beyond belief. "With all due respect, he just saved me. You can't expel him…"

"It's true…" Alexia said softly, looking between everyone except for the bullies responsible for this situation. When she met Riley's eyes, she noted how quickly his jotted away.

"As long as we don't take a vote whether I can stay or not, it sounds like I've been cleared and will be staying, so, if I'm not needed…" Ri said, addressing the Principal, both uncomfortable in here, and wanting to get back to English, for fairly evident reasons.

But no. They had to stay, each recounting what had happened several times over, before they were all allowed to leave. Ri got out with only a severe warning, while the six arses were only suspended for a week. Riley knew already, but it was made even more obvious by that, that they were spoiled little rich kids who could get away with that, when he knew he'd have been expelled in that situation. Not that it mattered, it wouldn't have been a first.

"Wait," came a familiar, quiet, small voice from behind Riley as he was on his way to the parking lot. He stopped and turned to see the kid following him.

"What?" Ri said with more of an edge than intended. His headache was coming back and he'd not eaten yet, so he was looking forward to leave.

"I… I mean I…"

"Spit it out."

"I just wanted to thank you. Most people just don't… really… give a fuck, y'know…" He laughed nervously.

"Just don't mention it… seriously…"

"I'm Caleb, by the way," he said after an awkward pause.

"I don't really give a damn…"

"Right, uh, yea…" he said as Riley was now turned around and leaving again, leaving Caleb looking impossibly more awkward than before, but now there was an added disappointment, and he looked let down after being blown off so bluntly.

"Hey… it's Riley, right?" Alexia asked casually as he closed his locker the next morning and saw her there, wearing an equally casual grin.

"Yeah… but are you sure you want to be talking to me? Won't 'Saurus get on your case, or something?" Riley asked as he slung his bag back over his shoulder and closed the lock.

"What? …Oh, you mean Rex," she said, unwavering. "Look, I don't now how you think he is, but I _am_ allowed to talk to other people, even guys!" Here she gave a mocking wink and nod to show that the boyfriend stereotype he was assuming was stupidly far off. "I was talking to him about yesterday though, and he said he thought you should tryout for football. The tryouts are two weeks from now."

"I don't know… how you think I am… but I don't do American football," Riley replied dully, but honestly. If anything he'd play real football, what they called 'soccer' here.

"Whatever, I passed on the invitation. I guess I still hope I'll see you there, if not, I'll see you around, but the bell's about to ring, and I don't feel like bolting up four flights of stairs, but it's been nice meeting you, Ri," Alexia said before hurrying off.

"Riley, what's wrong with you? I knew you weren't listening to me…" Christian said as he now came up to his friend.

"She came up to me, man," Riley replied in all honesty, now turning to face Chris, though upon doing so, saw that the Caleb kid from yesterday was looking at him and walking towards them. Ri abruptly turned and urged Chris to follow him as he walked briskly in the opposite direction.

"So basically you're saying," Chris replied as he followed his friend through people swiftly, though didn't understand why they were doing so, "that if I'd risked getting my butt kicked yesterday, Alexia DuPris would have flirted that mercilessly with me? Friggin A."

Ri paused a short moment as he looked back at Christian, raising an eyebrow. "She was flirting with me?"

"What part of that surprises you…?" he replied with incredulity and a roll of his eyes.

At that moment, the bell rang to begin another long day of lectures and napping, so Christian was gone, and Ri was lucky to be able to slip quickly into class seeing as Caleb had merely been steps away from catching up with him.


End file.
